Sciatica the early days...
 

I'm slowly finding more and more people with sciatica and in all honesty I'm scared.

I don't have it any where near as bad as some of you but don't want it to get there either.

mine started off like an ache in my left but cheek and slowly started to go down the back of my left leg. It got to the point where I couldn't sit or sleep as it was uncomfortable and borderline on pain.

I went to a private physio who did make it feel amazing. It has since return but more as slower back with the occasional stab down the leg.
The bit that is worrying me is that I am now getting a pain in my neck and around my shoulder blade (still with leg n butt pain) and am worried I'm going past the point of return. (the neck and shoulder pain are as if I've slept with my neck all crooked) - I can feel it while sleeping and am stupidly stiff in the mornings.
Is there a point of no return, is there anything else I can do ?

I do certain stretches every morning and have a memory foam bed. I've even started putting a log pillow under my knees to keep my back straight.

So what was it like in the early days for you?

I think Jeff and Maz can give you their experiences, and going from what Jeff was like last night, it's a miserable existence mate. I almost feel lucky I have 'only' an arthritic wrist at 27.

There is NEVER a point of no return. There are countless treatments for sciatic/back problems, it's just a case of getting to the right consultant. Don't be too worried about the neck/shoulder pain, the spine is a very complex connection of nerves. Pain in one area may sometimes be accompanied by pain in another totally unrelated area. The best course of action is phsyio and movement and trying to keep to your regular routine. In most cases the sciatica can be managed without the need for surgery.:)

1) Are you heavier than you should be? I lost a stone and a half and back problems vanished.

2) Not sure about this memory foam thing. For me changing from a soft mattress to medium hard made a big difference. The most "comfortable" mattress may not be a good thing.

3) Are you on any medication that could lead to muscle pain as a side effect?

dl

(Have you made a will) :D

Suffered with sciatica for the past 10+ yrs....Since loosing weight, tempur mattress and doing core stability exercises its a 100% better. I highly recommend Pilates mate :D

1. Lose the weight
2. Stop smoking
3. A damaged disk can take 6 months to heal - just because the pains gone doesn't mean its OK - it just means the bulge (or prolapsed part of you disk) has stopped pushing against the nerve.
4. Hard mattress
5. No lifting
6. Good osteopath (sp!)
7. No bending! - that'll be difficult as as far as I can tell you're a big bender :)

DCI

Just had my second MRI scan and waiting for my first pyshio appt in a couple of weeks. Been prescribed Tramadol for the pain but tbh, they make you feel like sh!t

Exercising the core muscles is meant to be good. Sciatica is not a condition, it's a symptom of something else, so you might actually find you have a back or neck problem that needs looking into.

I spent a fortune on private chiropractors/osteopaths and even a bowen therapist and nothing seemed to work. Still waiting for the magic cure but I feel proper structured exercise is the only way forward.

Personally, I'd go to the docs now rather than leave it like I did. The sooner you register it with them, the sooner you'll start getting the right advice/treatment/scans, etc.

Thank you for your responses and here are the answers:

I'm 10st 10 (5ft 8) I walk the dogs twice a day and football for 2hrs once a week. I can't really not bend or lift heavy stuff as it's part of my job but I know I could slow down and carry less at time. - Also I find beinding + moving daily makes it feel less stiff

I did some palatie classes and yes they made a difference. stupidly as soon as it stopped hurting I stopped and it came back.

It doesn't help that I love fishing and can easily sit there for 8hrs + big no no according to the physio guy.

I am about to sign up with the local doctor and say I have a bad back refer me to a specialist and then say ' I have private cover' in the hope to get the best of the best....

dont worry or be scared
 

i started getting pains in northern ireland in 1992,spent lots more years in the army.upon discharge i was asked if i had any problems told the medical officer who said nothing could be done.
i now work in the scrap business and as you can imagine it can be hard work.i got to a stage of not sleeping and being totally run down.left side of my waist down was numb and pardon this ladies,it felt as though someone was squeezing one of my balls at all times.i was put in touch with a practioner who could see me within 2 hrs of phoning him.i went he diagnosed and treated an issue i had for nearly 20 years in minutes.this was around 6 months ago and i have been great since.my lesson was that i have had a **** 20 years through choosing to believe 1 person who said i was f,,,ed.

This did me in about 2 months back, have the old butt pain down the left buttock and down the back of the left leg, is painful when doing some things but exercise may be the best cure, im hoping its not going to put a stop to my hiking, the initial being knocked flat on my face part was the worst tbh, it can only get better from here on in :D

Exercise is the key. Iv had 20 years of disc problems & although I swear by Diclofenic & heat packs, the fitter I am & the more I train the fewer flare ups I suffer. Regular cardio, careful weight training avoiding back risky ones & core strengthening exercises have made an amazing difference to my pain levels & quality of life. The problem is getting pain free enough to start such a regime.

:lol1:

I had a back injury 25yrs ago working as a lift engineer on installations, and also tore all the muscles in my shoulder about 15yrs ago when i fell through a roof into the loft space working as a roofer.

Had years of pain, went to see umpteen chiropractors, physio's and osteopaths, none of them could sort it, so i just gave up and decided i would have to live with it.

The pain used to be worse sometimes than others, i was having quite a rough time with the pain about 3yrs ago and decided to book an appointment with another osteopath i'd not tried before, random yellow pages job as all the others had been by recommendation, and this one was local ish.

So i arrive to see this fresh faced 24yr old lad fresh out of osteo school, and thought bloody hell another complete waste of money.

Well needless to say this young man fixed my shoulder and my back and my ribs which were popping out regularly and trapping a nerve due to my shoulder injury which in turn flared my back up.

My whole body was twisted and gave me pain from my feet to my neck, none of the previous so called professionals i had seen worked this out, it took about 6months of weekly appointments and then another six months of once a fortnight, now i just book every so often for realignment and a deep muscle massage to keep everything in trim.

I can now excersise and keep myself fit, which was something i always did until the first injury after which i became overweight which did not help.

The main thing i would say is in my experience most of the osteopaths ect out there are little more than massures at best, who just take your money for a quick rub down and a chit chat attempt some feeble manipulation and take your cash, i even had some stupid woman clicking her fingers on my body for 30 quid and had been recommended by some blithering idiot, what
utter bowlax.

The reason i tell you this is so you don't give up, the hard part is finding the right person that really does know their stuff, NHS included, and also that the pain you have may be the result of something other than your back/disc's.

My man is in nottingham, if you want his number send me a pm.

Jesus that does sound very painfull. Iv had back pain from about 16 they said it was my job heavy lifting (dry liner) etc. few years go on .some times It hurt so much I walk like I shat my self. Jan this year my gp mem I had a spinal bifda scare before I was born they told my mum to terminate me but she said no. Anyway I was born they said I was lucky just a slight curve . Had a x ray and Iv got mild spinal bifda but no 1 found it as all they said its your job it will ache etc .ass holes . But sciatica does sound very uncomfortable can they treat it?

Off to the physio for my 1st appointment tomorrow. Been waiting 2 months for it.

It all kicked off when I lifted too much at the gym (seated pulldowns) and since then ive had constant pain in my right leg in varying degrees of agony. I can be pain free for a lot of the time then 1 or 2 positions (usually going from standing to sitting) cause it to kick off bigtime. I'm hoping the damage isnt too bad but will wait and see what they say tomorrow.

Like you say, seems to be more and more people suffering from it, unless theres just an outpouring of people talking about it who have suffered in silence in the past.

Wish you all well and a speedy recovery

My wife gets very very bad sciatica.
She says the pain is worse than childbirth.
NHS useless advice is take pain killers and wait it out.

1st time I went to the doc about it he basically said, heres some co-codamol and diclofenac, see how you get on.

To state the blindingly obvious I do hope you guys and gals are lifting things properly? You can "do your back in" more by quickly bending down and picking up a paperclip you have dropped than picking up a case of wine, for example, keeping a straight back and using you legs to straighten up. We moved house recently and the lads doing it were bending and lifting up some pretty heavy stuff and it made me wince knowing the long term damage they could be doing.

And use common sense. Refuse to lift really heavy items if you're not used to it. If I go to get a bag of cement I ask for someone to put it in the back of the car for me and use a trolley when I get home. Not very manly but hey :)

dl

Had a training lession on how to lift but TBH I could try harder...

I did my back by going from a sit down lazy posture to jumping on a treadmill at max speed. Thought I pulled a muscle but nope.

18 posts and no-one had lol'd at this - Scoobynet really is going down the pan!!!

Seriously though - I thought sciatica was caused by ageing / wear and tear. I dont know anyone under 50 who has suffered from this? I thought you were quite young, am I wrong?

It's usually caused by an injury which ruptures the disc, the rupture then protrudes & pushes on the sciatic nerve causing pain, numbness & mobility issues. I did mine playing cricket over 20 years ago, just stumbled & twisted my back awkwardly, ironic really when I used to play rugby 3 times a week with no problems. A mate of mine slipped a disc jumping out of his 4x4, just unlucky really. Many people injure their backs when young doing active things, & live with it for years before undergoing serious treatment.

in time you learn to put up with the pain and even work through it tens machine and pain dullers can help

One thing i swear buy for problems like this, is cissus.

Has to be usp labs in order to be effective, i get the odd twinge now and then but that's it.

3gms per day is the typical dose, i take it on just my working days.

http://www.bulkpowders.co.uk/usplabs...angularis.html

I am 30 so I guess I'm old...

On Sunday everything was killing, both legs butt and all up my back so I've gone back to square 1. Doing all the leg raises, streches etc that I have been told by the physio guy and today it hasn't been to bad. I just have to rememeber to keep doing EVERY work out and not just bits of it..

Grr

Well i'm now 3 months into getting sciatica symptoms and i'm getting more and more worried.

The pain is steadily increasing, i'd say that i'm only pain free about 25% of the time depending on how i'm sitting or standing.

I had to wait 2 months for my 1st physio appointment, and she seemed to think I had a bulged or torn disk on my right hand side but then 3 weeks later at my 2nd appointment she's now said it could be a pelvic injury as well and has reffered me back to the docs tomorrow.

Its utterly depressing, I used to be able to walk around and have a reasonable amount of mobility without being in pain but now I cant walk or stand for more than about 10 mins at a time. Sleep is very broken, I have to find a position and then pray I dont move once i'm asleep. Turning over in the night is agony if I twist my hips. The pain isnt in my back/pelvis/groan area so much, its the nerve pain from my lower thigh to upper calf that is the agonising bit.

Will see what the doc says tomorrow, but may end up going private or to see a sports injury consultant. Really dont want to be popping pain killers like sweets but sometimes it gets too much.

I totally sympathise with people who suffer from this and dont know how some of you have coped so long.

I had it a couple of years ago and I wouldn't wish the pain on anyone.
I had a prolapsed disc which after months and months and months of physio nothing was getting better, I'd gone for an MRI and went back to get the results. The morning before that I woke up and didn't have any pain. I don't know how but it just righted itself!?

If you're having trouble sleeping like I was, it was suggested to me to put a pillow between my legs and lay on my side. Helped me a lot.

I gave up in the end, by quitting cycling the pain has become pretty minor really, but was awful for a while, but nothing like as painful as another problem I had but would rather not disclose.

It's funny as after my back ****ed up I started getting shoulder problem which still present as tendonopathy. I do lots of stretching myself on a bespoke stretching program designed by me using info on the Internet, lol.

I sought out a few physios but they were not much use. I'm contemplating trying something else but more for the shoulder.

Now that is interesting Tony, cause I've got pain in my left shoulder that's just there, no rhyme or reason (I don't do heavy lifting etc) but it's just come on over the last 6 months. I did initially put it down to having to carry my son around but I usually carry him with my stronger right arm any way.
When I go to the gym I find any more than 15 mins on the cross trainer with that arm motion my left arm pretty much goes numb.

Might be worth seeiing a doc, if it goes numb as you could be restricting upon an artery or something which is a prob some pitchers face and can be quite serious.

Personally I have a tendency to hunch a bit and maybe my back getting ****ed up changed the way I move too? But my right shoulder was getting impinged. Now I strengthen up my back muscles which oppose the pectorals, do loads of chest stretching, make sue my posture of more 'open' so shoulders back more. It's mostly worked I think just some movements trigger the tendon pain.

[QUOTE=RICHARD J;10710637 The problem is getting pain free enough to start such a regime.[/QUOTE]

This is where I struggle. Although I will add, I don't think I suffer from sciatica, but back and leg pain/difficulties. I know the best thing for me has to be to get into an exercise routine and lose some weight, then the problems might ease or go away, but it is very difficult to just fight through the pain. I'm going to have to try though, even though some days it takes all my energy just to spend all day on my feet at work without then having to exercise after that. But, I'll never get better by moaning.

Good luck to all of you finding a way to cope/improve your situation, as I'm sure by the sounds of it, you have it a lot worse than me and I know how bad I can feel at times.